The Future Trilogy: Basic - 01 of 03
by xandmatt
Summary: 1st of Future Trilogy. What happened 40 Years after SeeD's victory over Ultimecia. New countries have arisen as Esthar makes a discovery and alert SeeD. While Squall's daughter learns of her dead mother.


Future Trilogy - Basics - 01 of 03

By Xandmatt

**Disclaimer**: _I do not own anything of Final Fantasy VIII - it belongs to Square. Anything that wasn't in the game however, is the creation of me._  
**Rating**: _PG-13 Some mild language. Mild sexual references. Mild violence._  
**Summary**: _1st of Future Trilogy. What happened 40 Years after SeeD's victory over Ultimecia. New countries have arisen as Esthar makes a discovery and alert SeeD. While Squall's daughter learns of her dead mother._

**CHAPTER 1** - A New SeeD is Born. 

_ I've failed. I know it. I mucked up. I should've focused more on my team members than defeating those Marlboro's. Well Clara, you've seriously missed your chance to enter SeeD. Your father will be so 'proud' of you. _The thoughts were cut off by footsteps. The young woman whom was nervous went by the name of Clara. She was short and had long ebony black hair that reached her back. Her blue eyes turned to see the aging look of the woman that was going to tell them if they had entered in SeeD.

 The woman faced Clara. Clara guessed her age at 60. Her hair was grey but there were signs that it was a nice shade of orange. But she looked the part in a senior SeeD uniform. Clara began to shiver slightly. It was actually a shock to her, as she knew the woman standing in front of her, as she was present at her 17th birthday two months ago. In fact, as the nerves were affecting Clara's memory, she was at all of her birthdays. She even was her godmother. But Clara was still nervous. She looked at the woman in the eyes.

 "Leonhart, Clara. Congratulations. You're in SeeD." The woman said. Clara's face lit up and went to hug the woman giving her the news. She stopped and walked to the Headmaster's office.

 Before she left, as she passed the woman, she remembered her name. "Thank you. Aunt Quistis."

 Clara looked around at all of the junior classmen in their Garden uniforms. She stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the elevator and looked down at her own. She smiled, knowing that she won't be wearing that anymore. In fact, she will be wearing her casual clothes from now on. She snapped out of her fantasyland and started to walk up the steps. Each step created a sound that made the students around turn to face the newest SeeD. Clara stopped and turned to face down the steps to see many younger Garden Students applaud her. Clara smiled and gestured a bow to signal thank you. After a minute she carried on upwards to the lift and head to the Headmaster's office.

 The trip in the elevator seemed to take forever. This gave Clara chance to think about why they call it the Headmaster's office when it's the leader of SeeD that works there. Clara remembered her father saying that when she enters SeeD she'll discover the chain of command. _It's probably top secret._ She thought. _Or he was too idle to tell me._ She decided. The doors opened and Clara stepped through to see senior officials of SeeD standing waiting for her.

 Clara slowly began to walk to the bridge and she tipped her eyes to the sides to see SeeD's that must've been working for years. She spied Aunt Selphie who sneaked a little wave, and Nida Jr, a couple of years older than her, managed to wave a small bit as well. She reached the doors and opened them. 

 Before her stood the four other Garden students that passed, Headmaster of Garden Cid Kramer III, Sub-Commander Trepe, and the commander of SeeD for forty years. Her father….

 Squall Leonhart.

 She stood at the end of the line and looked at her father. He had the same problem as Quistis, his hair was mostly grey but you could faintly see the brown streaks that she used to admire and wished she had. She wasn't keen on her black hair. He turned to her and smiled. Clara smiled back, and wondered what her father was like when he became a SeeD. She'd listen to the stories that he was anti-social, but she didn't believe that. She was out-going and carefree. But everyone kept saying she is more like her mother than her father.

 "Congratulations! You've now managed to sign your life away for good. I'm living proof." Her father started to all five SeeD graduates, Quistis let out a laugh as if she hadn't seen him crack a joke before. _They must be right about my father at my age if they think he's been acting out of character for years._

 Clara never met her mother. She died when she was born, well two weeks after. She was always compared to her mother. Never seemed to be said she was like her father, yet he always seemed to have the same personality and humour. But there was ONE thing that they compared Clara with her father with, her individuality. She wasn't anti-social like the legends of her father, but worked better on her own like her father used to. _Settle it Clara. People change. Listen to the nice boring speech by your father._

 Squall was situated on a stand elevating him above everyone else and amplifying his voice across the room. "I would now like to say, this is the 40th Anniversary of when I became a SeeD. I would like to announce that from the end of this year, I will be retiring to let someone younger than me take the reigns, but not as young as I was. I won't FORCE them into it." He then gave Quistis a sharp stare after putting an emphasis on 'force' and then gave a little laugh. "Anyway, these five new SeeD's. I wish them the best of look."

 Squall walked to the first SeeD, a young blonde girl who came up to his shoulders. He took her hand and shook it. "Good luck Jeneara, we need a munitions expert." He sidestepped to the second one. This time it was male with gelled up spiky black hair. "Good luck to you to Dench and don't forget to ask for help to decide which area you want to go into." He went to the third graduate, another male, but he had long blonde hair. "I wish you the best of luck Quiz. Keep up with the martial arts."

 Clara started to sweat. Her friends Jeneara, Dench and Quiz had been done. All that was left was a kid she didn't know and then it was her. Squall was closing in. He shook the hand of the kid next to her and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were directly into Squall's.

 Squall opened his mouth to speak. "Clara. You have no idea how…proud I am. How much pride I have towards you. Seeing you hear reminds me of when I stood there. You look just like your mother in a SeeD uniform."

 The tone and way he said that was strange. _My mother wasn't a SeeD?_ Clara thought. _I didn't know that. _Clara smiled and hugged her father. He waved for them to be dismissed and she was the last to leave the room. The graduation ball would be in four hours. She was planning the bath she was going to have during the elevator down.

 Clara looked at her new room which had most of her things moved into. She grabbed her bath things and looked at her SeeD uniform. She head into the en suite bathroom and started to run the bath. She removed her uniform and wrapped the towel around her. She waited for the water to be warm enough and then removed the towel and jumped into the bubbly bath. She laid her head to the end of the bath and closed her eyes as her muscles that ached started to unwind.

 She must've fallen asleep. But the dream she had raised a few questions, and they were mostly about her mother. The first question was; _why did I forget to ask someone to the graduation ball? _She then realised it was because she thought she would fail the exam. But she'd go alone. Jeneara and Quiz were going together and Dench got a date with this really flirty girl that works in the library.

 But she then began to think about her mother. All she knew was that her name was Rinoa Leonhart. Her name used to be Heartily. Clara looked like her except for her eyes that were her father's. Her grandmother wrote one of the world's famous songs _Eyes On Me_, which was ironically about her father's father, former President of Esthar Laguna Loire who died when Clara was six. The dream drifted to her grandfather. Laguna was a nice man who got on well with everyone. Although there was some friction between him and Squall. Clara suddenly realised that her thoughts have drifted because she didn't know anymore about her.

 With that, Clara woke up. The water was cold and she'd spent two hours in the bath. And her skin was wrinkly. She got up and started to get ready for the party. She'd bought this nice dress in the Shopping Centre in North Balamb that she was going to wear for the graduation ball. But she was told it has been tradition for nearly forty-five years to graduates to wear uniform. So Clara focused on the make-up. Making sure that she looked the most beautiful that she could be.

 She was about to stand up to leave, but she looked in the mirror. She stared at herself, examining every part of her face, looking at her hair that was all let loose and just touching the middle of the upper spine area. _This must be what my mother must've looked like…._ With that thought, she stood up and walked to the doorway. She turned at her new dormitory and stared at the mirror she was looking at. She turned the light off and headed to the Quad…

 Fireworks shot everywhere. Lines of SeeD and Garden students were dancing in celebration. Jeneara, Dench and Quiz were dancing with a group of people laughing away. But Clara was nowhere to be seen on the dance floor. She was leaning against the wall looking at everyone in the Quad. The music was brilliant, the kind that Clara loved. The type that would enter her ears and she couldn't help but dance. But she wasn't dancing. Thoughts of her mother kept floating around in her mind. This never happened before.

 _Why can't I stop thinking about her? _Clara thought to herself. She looked up to see her father looking at her. Clara forced a smile, but could tell that Squall was on his way.

 Clara looked up to find her father next to her. "This does bring back memories. Oh god. If you could watch this exactly forty years ago you'll see me standing there, looking around. A woman is looking around, and she points at me. I'm actually secretly afraid of dancing. I'd prefer to be left alone. But she grabs my arm and drags me to the dance floor. I can't dance, but I try. I never knew the name of that woman until a few days later. Rinoa Heartily." Squall said. Trying to cheer Clara up. "A strange man may come up from nowhere and ask you to dance…." Squall paused and looked around.

 "You okay dad? I was feeling a lot better…" Clara asked. Squall raised a hand for her be quiet. He looked around. He then shrugged and turned back to Clara.

 "I had this feeling that something bad was here. Maybe it's just my old age. Haha…" Squall's laugh died off as Quistis ran towards them with an urgent look in her eyes.

 Quistis tried to catch her breath. "Squall, the Foreign Representative of Esthar is on the Communication-NET. He has something important to show you."

 Squall stood up and looked at her. He leaned to her ear. "I'm talking to Clara. I'm trying to boost her confidence. She's quiet for some reason." Squall then went to sit to where Clara was now sitting.

 "But it is REALLY important Squall. You HAVE to get this…"

 Squall looked at Clara wanting to stay, but she nodded him on. Squall stood up and followed Quistis out of the Quad, leaving Clara alone. She tried to look for her friends, smiling in hope of finding them. But instead she locked eyes on a guy walking towards her with a smile on his face.

 The guy stood in front of her and bowed. "You must be Miss Leonhart, daughter of the Commander. I would like to request a dance with you." The way that he asked this got to Clara. The confidence and maturity he seemed to show. He looked the same age as her. She stood up and held her hand. She smiled as he took it, and they headed to the floor.

 The next track was a slow track. The guy danced with grace and Clara looked to see her friends cheering her on. She smiled and looked up to this guy again. His eyes were dark and mysterious. His face looked like a puzzle that needed solving. His clothes were all dark with the exception of some white. But Clara kept to his eyes. There was _something_. _Oh my god. He is GORGEOUS! Oh my, he is sexy._ Clara smiled some more. The music then suddenly died down for a break, and Clara realised that ten minutes had past.

 "I have to go now. Maybe we'll meet again." He said. 

 Clara was intrigued. He was dark and mysterious, although apart from his white body-length coat and blonde hair he was dark. "May I ask your name? Also, may I ask for your company for at least another half an hour?"

 He looked down at her. He smiled. "Okay then. Half and hour." He took her hands as the music started to play again. He leant to her ear. "My name…is Seifer." He leant back and looked in her eyes. She smiled back.

 With their eyes meeting, Clara felt she had to say something, "Seifer. Unique name. Haven't heard it before. Well thank you in advance Mr. Seifer."

 And they kept dancing…

 Squall entered the communication area with Quistis beside him. He looked to a huge screen with the Garden Logo. Cid III was there looking shocked. Squall looked at him. "Resume the transmission."

 Squall looked to the screen to see the Foreign Representative of Esthar looking at him. "Commander Leonhart. Nice to see you again."

 Squall replied with, "Likewise Durn. What is it that was of great importance?" Squall then keyed some numbers into a consol. 

 Durn sent some files over to Squall. "Do you remember a mission to the Northern Section of Tribia?"

 Squall's eyes widened. "Yes. I remember. Thirty-eight years ago I sent five SeeD members, including Zell Dinct and Irvine Kinneas to investigate reports of a genetically engineered member of the Shumi Tribe…they all died."

 Durn kept his serious look on him. He then proceeded with his news. "Well, we've found Dinct and Kinneas."

 Squall looked shocked. "YOU'VE FOUND THEIR REMAINS?" His breathing started to increase.

 Durn, still serious and showing no emotional change, continued, "We're bringing them to Garden now. We haven't found the remains. We've found THEM."

 He moved, and to Squall's horror, saw the frozen bodies of Irvine and Zell. Perfectly preserved. With looks of fear on their faces….

To Be Continued…


End file.
